§ Mr. PriorOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I should like to ask how the Opposition can be expected to conduct business.
Today you, Sir, refuse to take a question—and these matters are entirely in your power—from a Member of the Opposition Front Bench who wished to deal with a Private Notice Question. At the same time the Opposition were prevented from putting questions to the Prime Minister and also to the Leader of the House on a number of matters. The result was that when the House considered the Private Notice Question, Mr. Speaker felt that he had to restrict the time available and thus the Opposition were unable to put their point of view.
In short, my point of order is that if the Government insist on using Question Time as a means of making statements which have no relevance whatever to Questions tabled to them, and you, Mr. Speaker, use your discretion not to call Opposition Members on Private Notice Questions dealing with subjects of great importance, how can the Opposition carry out their duties, and how can you, Sir, protect the rights of the Opposition?
§ Mr. Frank AllaunFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Some of us were surprised that a Private Notice Question on this subject was granted at all. I do not want to reflect on your view, Mr. Speaker, and in fact I support you on this occasion because I felt that you devoted adequate time to discussion of the dispute. There are hundreds of disputes taking place, and if I we are to have a long debate at Question Time on each dispute there will be no time for ony other business at all.
§ Mr. SpeakerI have noted what has been said. I am certain that those who are in charge of the business of the House also will have taken note of those remarks. I do not propose to make any further comment today.